Friday, February 6, 2015

Nail and Holes


Symbol: Nails and Holes

Lesson: Words, like nails may leave long-lasting, sometimes permanent damage.

Illustration: The father of a son decides he needs to teach his son a lesson about anger and its effects. He tells the son that every time he loses his temper and says something unkind, the son is to take a nail and hammer it into an outdoor post. At first the son thought it was no big deal. He’d get mad just so that he could put a nail in the post. He used all his pent up energy to make sure it was driven in so far, it would never come out. But after a while, the son got tired of it and decided he was going to attempt to control his temper. After a great deal of self-control the son finally went through a whole day without losing his temper. He was so proud of himself he went and told his father. His father congratulated him, handled him the hammer and told him to use the other end to remove one nail. For each day he succeeded in controlling his temper, he could remove one more nail.

Months went by and most of the nails were removed except the ones the son had driven in so vigorously at the beginning. But finally, with patience and other tools, all the nails were out. In the meantime, the son had grown into a young man. After a few years he was finally able to go back to his father and announce that all the nails had been removed. Once again, the father congratulated him but this time the father asked the son to walk with him out to that post.

The father put his arm over his son’s shoulder and calmly said: “Each nail you hammered was because you said something unkind to someone. Those nails were like the stabbing and piercing words you used. Now, you have removed all the nails, but what do you notice about the post?” The son thought about it and said, “It is full of holes.”

“Exactly!” remarked the father. And even though you have stopped losing your temper, think of all the holes that it has left in the relationships you’ve hurt. Although you’ve made wonderful progress, there are always consequences. Some of those holes may swell shut with rain, but the scares will be there for a long time. Likewise, it may take a long time for the scars of pain to heal. Keep working hard to control your temper so that you do not leave anymore holes in the hearts of people. Although some holes you’ve created in the past may never heal, as long as you keep moving forward, eventually you will gain a fine reputation with others.

Notes: n/a

No comments:

Post a Comment